Fall 2017

Today's Topics

  • UCLA Library Data Archives: who we are and what we do
  • How to search for and access data for research
  • Resources, tools and support available to students at UCLA
  • Publishing and Data Management Plans

UCLA Library Data Archives

Data Archives: Our services

Finding Out About Data Sources

  • UCLA Library Data Archive
  • Colleagues
  • Public media (newspapers, news)
  • Social media (twitter, etc)
  • Scholarly literature
  • Government reports and documents
  • Archives and project websites
  • Codebooks, questionnaires
  • Exploration of datasets

Search Strategies

  • General to specific; broad to narrow
  • Names of investigators; names of studies
  • Studies described in literature, news and websites

How do I know this study useful?

  • Raw data are not eye-readable
  • To decipher data you will use Questionnaires and Codebooks

illustration: Raw Data

What is a Questionnaire?

  • A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents.

  • Questionnaires cover separate topics such as:
    • Preferences (e.g. political party)
    • Behaviors (e.g. food consumption)
    • Facts (e.g. gender)
  • Questionnaires can include indexes or scales:
    • Latent traits (e.g. personality traits)
    • Attitudes (e.g. towards immigration)
    • An index (e.g. Social Economic Status)

Questionnaire

illustration: ABC News Poll

Codebook

illustration: General Social Survey

Codebooks: Example #2

illustration: Raw data and codebook

ICPSR Data Site

ICPSR: Find Data

ICPSR: Register to Access Data

illustration: ICPSR Register

ICPSR: Search by Topics

illustration: ICPSR Search by Topics

ICPSR: Search for and Compare Variables

illustration: ICPSR Search for and Compare Variables

ICPSR: Compare Variables

illustration: ICPSR Compare Variables

ICPSR: Study Page and Data

illustration: ICPSR Study Page and Data

ICPSR: Reading About Data

illustration: ICPSR Reading About Data

ICPSR: Publications linked to Data

illustration: ICPSR Publications linked to Data

ICPSR: Publications Linked to Data

illustration: ICPSR Publications Linked to Data

Data Sources

Data Management Plans

  • What is a Data Management Plans
  • Why do I need this?
  • What tools are available to help?

What is a Data Management Plan?

A data management plan is a document that describes what you will do with your data during your research and after you complete your research.

Why do you need this?

Getting help

  • Data Archive
  • ICPSR

Questions

illustration: Questions

Problems ?